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Isotope Ratios for Taylor Valley Streams

Summary

Abstract:

As a part of the McMurdo Dry Valleys LTER program, isotope ratios have been determined for 166 samples of stream water in Taylor Valley, Antarctica. Hydrogen/deuterium isotope ratios are given for all samples, and for a subset, there are oxygen isotope ratios, and a deuterium-excess. Values are reported relative to VSMOW, +/- 1.0 per mil for hydrogen, and +/- 0.1 for oxygen.

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Methods:

The samples were obtained in 3 field seasons: 1993-94, 1994-95, and 1996-97. Water samples were taken from stream channels or other proglacial sources. Many are grab samples, taken for characterizing the general signal of a particular stream. Some are samples taken as a suite of samples along a stream path, with times noted, and distance along the stream noted. The samples were analyzed by Bruce Vaughn at the Stable Isotope Lab at INSTAAR (Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research), University of Colorado. For the samples obtained during the 1993-94 year, a duplicate set was analyzed by Tyler Coplen at the US Geological Survey, in Reston, Virginia. For the analysis of hydrogen isotopes, the uranium reduction method was used at INSTAAR, and the platinum-catalyst equilibration method was used at the USGS. For oxygen isotopes, the standard CO2/H2O equilibration method was used at both labs. There was agreement between the analyses done at the two labs.

Maintenance:

Data from this table was submitted to Denise Steigerwald (MCM LTER data manager) by Bruce Vaughn on a floppy disk. The file was in ascii text, tab delimited format, and can be found in the data manager's home directory on INSTAAR's Unix system. Once submitted, the data manager used Microsoft Excel and Access to fine-tune the file and get it in more of a relational mode. Changes made include the following: date field. Simmons Creek, Andersen Creek, Vestal Stream, House Stream, Hendy Stream, Santa Fe Stream, Parker Creek, Lyons Creek assign 'nearest stream gage' associated with the 'location' field. If the nearest stream gauge was unknown, this field was left blank.

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This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation Grant #OPP-1637708 for Long Term Ecological Research. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed here are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.